On Saturday, Jan. 25, artist Louie Northern, of Mount Vernon, will demonstrate his oil painting techniques from 10:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at the Kentucky Artisan Center at Berea.

Northern prefers oil painting as his medium because it doesn’t dry fast, and he likes the way oil paint handles using both a brush and palette knife. He often builds up the surface of his canvas to give it a more three-dimensional texture. Most of Northern’s subject matter is rooted in his surroundings – farmland, mules, logging trucks and the woods that grow on his lands. Northern also creates more non objective paintings playing with color and texture, and he is adept at printmaking.

"Mules" an oil painting by Louie Northern who will demonstrate at the Center on Jan. 25.

Always interested in art, Northern has been drawing since he was a small child. Today he is a farmer on 300 acres of land on his father’s original home place in Rockcastle County. Although born in Dayton, Ohio, Northern returned to the land of his family’s roots in 1977. He studied art and began painting while in high school. He went on to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree in painting in 1999, from Eastern Kentucky University.

A selection of works by Louie Northern is regularly available at the Kentucky Artisan Center at Berea, located at 200 Artisan Way, just off Interstate 75 at Berea Exit 77. The center’s exhibits, shopping and travel information areas are open daily from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. with the cafe open from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Admission is free.

The center currently features works by more than 700 artisans from more than 100 counties all across the Commonwealth. A special exhibit, “Capturing the Art of Sport: Works by Kentucky Artisans,” is on display through Feb. 22. For more information about the center’s events call 859-985-5448, visit us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/kentucky.artisan.center, or go to the center’s website at www.kentuckyartisancenter.ky.gov.

The Kentucky Artisan Center at Berea is an agency in the Tourism, Arts and Heritage Cabinet of the Commonwealth of Kentucky.